ENTtoday: July 2010

Departments

ACGME RRC—this litany of letters means little to most otolaryngologists. However, whether you are a private practitioner or an academician, a resident in training or a program director, you should have a basic understanding of the work done by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee (ACGME RRC).

When Rahul Shah, MD, then a pediatric otolaryngologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and several colleagues first undertook a survey of otolaryngologists’ reactions to adverse events in 2004, they provided a blank form for respondents to write about what had happened. In the more than 200 responses they received, Dr. Shah and his colleagues read an outpouring of emotion.

By now, you’re probably well versed in the clinical aspects of the health reform bill signed by President Obama in March. But what you may not know is that the bill includes a section that could benefit otolaryngologists and other physicians in their role as employers.

Other

What patients are at risk for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection following septorhinoplasty and the need for antibiotic prophylaxis? Background: Local infection is a rare complication following septorhinoplasty, but it has been suggested that at least half of the patients who undergo septorhinoplasty or rhinoplasty will be colonized with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and a percentage of […]

What is the management and outcome of facial paralysis from intratemporal blunt trauma? Background: Many temporal bone fractures, most commonly from motor vehicle accidents, are complicated by facial nerve dysfunction. Frequently, the initial diagnosis of facial nerve injury is delayed due to the altered mental status of the patient and the attention diverted to life-threatening injuries. […]

How does the new technique of carbon dioxide laser-assisted cartilage reshaping (CO2 LACR) otoplasty work and what are the outcomes? Background: With more than 200 different otoplasty techniques, no single technique is considered the standard of care. Otoplasty techniques are cartilage sculpting (cutting), cartilage sparing (suturing) or a composite of the two. Problems associated with these techniques […]

What are the effects of routine thyroid gland palpation on serum thyroid hormone levels? Background: The assessment of serum thyroid hormone levels in association with thyroid palpation is widely used for the diagnosis of thyroid gland pathologies, often with blood sampling for thyroid function taking place after physical examination. While previous studies have shown that external […]

Is an intranasal corticosteroid (INCS) effective monotherapy for treatment of acute rhinosinusitis? Background: Acute rhinosinusitis is often treated with antibiotics as if it were a bacterial infection; however, estimates suggest that approximately 98 percent of cases may be of viral etiology. The natural history of acute sinusitis, even in cases of bacterial disease, is spontaneous resolution […]